Machu Pichu

Everyone woke up extra early so that we could get into the park before the regular tourists who come into town, Machu Pichu Pueblo, on the trains.   I had come into town the previous day to meet up with the Inca Trail group that Forrest was with.  The previous evening we had all congregated at the Hot Springs so that they could soak their sores and reminisce about the trail.  

The morning was beautiful and the bus ride up to the ruins from town as gripping as ever.  Imagine going up a mountain full of switch-backs on a one lane road at 90 kph.  It's definately an extreme experience.  When the bus arrives at the entrance to the "park" there is a waiting area for all the groups going into the park.  There were not many when we arrived as only a few are given early entry.  The waiting area is where the famous lodge sits and then off to the right of the bus drop off lies the bathrooms and above those on the second level the restaurant and other facilities.

Once our group was situated and ready we entered the ruins and made our way to the where the "sacred rock."  Most of the ruins face a pristine mountain that is almost perfect in its shape.  Both Forrest and I could not keep our eyes off of it. The neutral feeling we both talked about was gone.  We were now feeling that strange energy you feel when you are in a sacred place.  At the heart of the ruins it began.  We couldnt figure out why we were so drawn to that mountain, until our guide informed us that it was "the" sacred mountain.  When we got to the Sacred Rock it had a similar shape to the mountain top.  

As we walked through the grounds we would walk through interesting constructions (perfectly cut and  fitted).  There were a few more sacred sites but also some interesting technologies like small circular shallow wells that when filled with water reflected the night sky and were used to chart the constellations. There was a room with stone insets that were accoustically attuned so that when you stuck your head in them and someone whispered in another you could here them. 

By afternoon the park was beginning to get busier as the first trains arrived.  Although the country is immaculate, especially the park, you do notice that there is wear and tear that is happening.  They do an excellent job at maintaining it but you do get some obnoxious people not following the rules.  They actually have a park warden with a whistle who blows it at people when they do silly stuff.  

Some sites have an effect on you (The condor temple, etc) others dont but one thing does catch you everytime and that is the scenery around the complex and strategic points within it.  The scenery around it is at a scale hard to imagine.  Even having been to Alaska where the mountains meet the water the scale of the peaks and the landscape dwarf everything and its all green and lush.  

We ended our day in Machu Pichu sitting on a steppe, talking and staring out at the "Sacred Mountain."  The guides may tell you it was an administrative center for trade, which you do not doubt just from its placement and the fact that all "trails" lead there.  But some how you feel that it isnt the only story.  Others may tell you it was a retreat for the elite, maybe so but there was too much else there to have only been the elite to live there.  The sheer scale, placement and thoughtfulness that went into the city not to mention the powerful feeling, energy whatever you want to call it that DOES reside throughout the main complex eludes to the fact that Machu Pichu was many things and its importance to the "Inca" and to people today who are drawn to its mysteries and its mystique and somehow effects our imagination and awe are the only facts we can count on in regards to this special place.  

Machu Pichu has an effect on you no matter what your agenda for visiting it is.  We each gained something from this trip and what was even more interesting, while observing everyone else you could tell each of them were having their own special experience too.